Episode II: Coming Storm - 28 Jun 2015
On their way to Bespin aboard the Atin Oya’ka, the ship which Ghurn Skirata has lent the team he sent to Nyriaan to uncover the fates of the two agents sent to investigate the secrets of the Deluge Device, the party spends the two days in hyperspace recuperating and are left to dwell on events. Story Teller: take several moments to describe what you’ve been doing on the trip. Aela Viszla: Aela has spent the trip discussing the state of the Galaxy, and how best to help her people, probably mostly with Nadia, but not excluding others. Maybe even working out finances, and such for her peoples guns/armor/droids Shi Krem has been staying quiet in the quarters that were assigned to her, spending 90% of the trip in her room meditating silently, only leaving to attend to bodily functions. That's not to say she wasn't at least friendly when she was out and about on the ship. H3-4L B07 is looting and then spacing the corpse he grabbed. And then staying in med seemingly in standby. He is thinking on his past and the present state of the galaxy. Poison: oh heal bot, you kill me The ship’s warning systems sound off indicating the drop out of hyperspace and a minute later the ship drops out in the Bespin system. Nadia sits at the controls directing the borrowed ship towards the planet, dealing with the Cloud City port authorities in the process. Shi Krem opens her eyes, having made no progress in... whatever it was she was searching for in the Force. She swiftly makes her way to the bridge, taking up a position out of the way. Aela Viszla sits beside Nadia, co-piloting, and talking. Nadia announces over the intercom once all the arrangements are done. "We should be docking in Cloud City in about 10 minutes." Nadia glances over the controls and looks sideways at Aela. "I think you'd find Mandalore much changed, Aela... Not than many Mandalorians actually go there. Seems to be more a ceremonial home world than anything." Aela Viszla: "Well, we had asteroids and planets all over in my day...so that isn't surprising, but, to be all basically in hiding? This is intolerable, isn't it? I'm horrified." Nadia: "Not so much in hiding as subdued..." Shi Krem: "I'd been to Mandalore once. Sundari actually. It'd become the capital city of the New Mandalorians, Absolutely stunning architecture." Nadia: "I haven't been to been Mandalore myself.. Spent a lot of my time on Concordia but never made the hop over." Aela Viszla: Aela shakes her head at the "subdued" comment. "Thats exactly what I mean! Its like, the opposite of the point." She sighs heavily. Nadia manipulates the controls as the ship enters the atmosphere. Nadia: "Either way...without a formal declaration by a Mandalore the old believers likely won't do anything and those holding onto the New Mandalorian ideals might be hard to persuade to fight." H3-4L B07 you can't fight an enemy like the empire with brute force. Aela Viszla: Aela shakes her head in horror at the latest statement. H3-4L B07: "Before you can even hope to fight the empire you need to break their image. Nadia angles the ship to get a glorious view of the floating city before redirecting towards the assigned landing platform.. Aela Viszla: "Other people are already doing that. Regardless. I'm not a politician, and don't plan to...do whatever that would involve. If I was leading an insurrection, it would involve hitting all their soft targets, while their bloated forces patrol all the wrong places." Shi Krem: "If what I've been told is true, then in the long run that doesn't even really matter. The Empire is simply too big for any significant force to gather against it before it gets stamped out." Aela Viszla: "I've heard that before." Shi Krem: "But... and this is all speculation, but it seems to me that Chancellor Palpatine has made the empire too reliant on his presence. Wouldn't it flounder without his presence?" H3-4L B07: "That's exactly what I mean Aela. The Empires' built on fear an image of invincibility, Every imp that falls every ship that's raided will inspire others to resist. Even Malak with the infinite production of the star forge fell to a few." "The best thing to do if your dead set on fighting the empire is to hit them as hard and as often as you can manage. Let someone else give the speeches and inspire people. All you have to do is go wild and raise the rucus." Nadia sets the ship down gently on the platform and begins the shut down procedure. Aela Viszla: "Thats what I'd have expected us to be doing already. Its why I'm so disappointed." H3-4L B07: "If were gonna fight a shadow war against an intractable enemy we need weapons, explosives, hideouts, supply caches... in short we need money." Aela Viszla: "Of course. Its always money." Nadia: "It's hard to know exactly what's going on. The only word of any resistance we get is from word of mouth. From what I've heard. Fenn Shysa has been using guerrilla tactics to sting the Empire where he can." Shi Krem: "Superfluous planning and speculation aside, might I ask why exactly we're over Bespin? I'm assuming its related to why you all were poking around that cave you found me in." H3-4L B07: "Nope!" "You were completely tangential to our goals." Nadia looks at the viewport and spots the blue armored figure heading towards the ship. "Looks like Uncle Ghurn got notice of our arrival." Shi Krem hmms as she probes outside the ship with the Force, curious about this 'Uncle Ghurn.' (To Shi Krem): what sort of information are you looking for? (From Shi Krem): Just general vibe, really. (To Shi Krem): mainly he's confident Aela Viszla: "Well, thats good." She gets ready to hop out (From Shi Krem): Nothing untoward about him, at least that's immediately apparent? (To Shi Krem): nope Shi Krem pushes herself fully to her feet, having been leaning on the wall of the cockbit by the door, to follow Aela. Ghurn Skirata is walking up the ramp if anyone goes down to meet him. "Su cuy, good hunting?" He spots Shi Krem and pulling off his helmet gives a quizzical glance at Aela. "Find yourself so more crew?" Ghurn Skirata: some* more Aela Viszla: "Yeah. Everywhere we go, we seem to pick up some, and lose others." She shrugs, in some meaningful way. Shi Krem: "A pleasure to meet you... 'Uncle Ghurn.'" She says that with the slightest hint of mischief. "I am Shi Krem." She holds out her hand for him. Ghurn Skirata is nonplussed as he takes it. "Oy, pretty girl like you call me what you want. Ghurn Skirata." He releases her hand and looks at Aela. "Lost someone?" H3-4L B07 face palms Aela Viszla: "Don't worry about it." She looks over at Nadia, then back, Shi Krem raises her eyebrows, her posture instantly stiffening up into a more professional look. "Ghurn Skirata?? Any relation to Kal Skirata??" Nadia is still in the cockpit Ghurn Skirata waves a hand. "Second cousin twice removed or some such rubbish..." H3-4L B07: "Jobs went well by the way. Easier than it seemed." Ghurn Skirata: "Good good. I want to hear all about it!" Shi Krem calms down a bit, nodding her head in understanding. Ghurn Skirata: "Client is anxious to have a full report." (From H3-4L B07): does anyone else know that I grabbed the data or did I do that secretly? Ghurn Skirata closes the ramp behind him and heads up to the next level to the common room. (To H3-4L B07): depends on if you were being secretive about it Ghurn Skirata: "Shall we get down to business then?" (From H3-4L B07): was getting the data part of the job? (To H3-4L B07): you would be getting a bonus Shi Krem remains silent, as she's still entirely unsure of what 'business' entails. (From H3-4L B07): hmmm.... more money or keeping this tech out of the wrong hands Aela Viszla: "Yeah. Lets. Are we gonna go somewhere for this discussion?" Ghurn Skirata settles himself at the table, "Here is better than anywhere else.. No telling what ears might be listening." Aela Viszla: Aela sits down and makes herself comfortable. H3-4L B07 crosses his arms and leans against a wall Nadia comes out of the cockpit and nods a greeting to Ghurn before taking a seat at the table. Ghurn Skirata: "Ah, there ya are adi'ka..." he looks at the others now that they're all gathered. "Well then.. Let's start with Yrssk and Klieri." H3-4L B07: "Well for starters, Yrrrsk offed Klieri for a better deal from the CSA." Ghurn Skirata winces at the news. "And Yrssk?" H3-4L B07: "We found 'im out in the steam fields. Got the location of the facility from 'im." Ghurn Skirata: "Aye?" he prompts. Aela Viszla: Aela listens to Bill, watching Ghurn. She looks relaxed. Ghurn Skirata: "Ya were able to find the device?" H3-4L B07: "Aye" Bill responds. "They were hiding it in an abandoned mine. We shut it down." Ghurn Skirata: "Good, good." Aela Viszla: "There a lot more devices like this one around?" Ghurn Skirata: "And the CSA's future endeavors with their project?" JT: There are? When did we learn that.? Ghurn Skirata shrugs "Who knows? I don't." Ghurn Skirata looks around waiting for an answer to his query. Shi Krem remains silent, having spent the entire meeting listening and absorbing as much info as she could. JT: don't look at me, I think I've given enough exposition and recapping for one session. Alicia G (GM): this recap is important in so far as what Ghurn passes on for you to get paid... Aela Viszla: "We are sure that there will be no future endeavours." Alicia G (GM): and for any future missions... H3-4L B07: "Oh really, those scientists you decided we should spare may beg to differ." Ghurn Skirata: "Good, Good... Ya, didn't happen to get a copy of the schematics before you shut it down?" Aela Viszla tilts her head towards Bill, "Did we get schematics?" H3-4L B07: "Might've done." Ghurn Skirata seems impressed. "The client will be happy to hear it. Having it could help prevent CSA's and the Empire's future endeavors to recreate it." H3-4L B07 puts a copy of the schematics he downloaded on the table. Ghurn Skirata picks it up and shifts getting ready to leave. "I'll be leaving in an hour to deliver your report to the client. Is there anything else you'd like me to tell them?" H3-4L B07: "The device was functional and in the midst of it's charge up sequence when we got there. So I hope that gives your client an idea of just how far along they were with this." JT: also I just want to say that H3 has only 8 CHA so maybe in the future someone else should be the voice of the group. Ghurn Skirata: "Does indeed." He stands. "Your ship is where you left it. I've had a crew or two over to start on repairs." From his armor he pulls out a credit chip. "Here's part of the payment that was promised. I'll have to get the rest when I report in." Poison: Aela has cha 10 and wis 6, so not exactly a smokin' fill in Sunny: >tfw i have 18 cha but no knowledge of these events JT: I know I meant going forward though Sunny: >>and also 15 deception and mind trick JT: Sly minx Ghurn Skirata sees that no one has anything else to say and motions for Nadia to follow. "Come along, adi'ka something I need to discuss with ya." To the others he says. "Feel free to make use of this ship till I get back, but keep it one piece. Aye?" Aela Viszla nods. H3-4L B07 begins loading up his loot for transfer to the venture. Ghurn Skirata leaves with Nadia in tow. Shi Krem: "I'd like to ask exactly what this device you were talking about does. It seems like it was a pretty big deal." H3-4L B07: "Hurricane machine that would have created a storm so massive it would have wiped out most sentient life on the planet." Shi Krem: "...ah. It's good that it was shut down, then." H3-4L B07: "Thanks to us." Aela Viszla: "It worked really well. Doomsday device." She shakes her head, "In the last war, we used those on planets we conquered." "Not our finest achievement." H3-4L B07: "Could be worse... though I guess it was." Shi Krem: "I'm assuming then the Empire wished to perfect the technology to better subjugate planets." Aela Viszla: "And threaten them with." She looks off to the left H3-4L B07: "Like I said before. Their building themselves on fear. That means they must seem as gods to all or risk the spark of resistance igniting the fires of rebellion." Shi Krem: "So then, what now?" H3-4L B07: "Well first... we gotta introduce you to eve." Nadia comes back some time later to gather her gear. Nadia catches the last bit of conversation "Eve is a treat." Shi Krem raises an eyebrow. "Care to elaborate?" Nadia grins. "Best to see for yourself." Nadia checks over her equipment. "I'm heading over now." H3-4L B07: "Nope! Best thing is to meet her." H3 loads the last of his loot and begins walking off the ship toward where the venture was left. "Come along Krem." Aela Viszla heads off as well, looking around as she departs. H3-4L B07: "I am swathed in darkness." Sunny follows after Bill, her curiosity more than a little piqued. Sunny: fuck H3-4L B07: "Honey we're home." Story Teller: The Venture is too large to land on one of the platforms so it's been docked. As Shi enters the ship a female semi-mechanic voice calls out. Eve: "Warning: Unauthorized personnel. Identify." From the nearby ceiling, a turret drops down to greet Shi Krem H3-4L B07: "Eve, disengage! Target is an ally." Nadia: "Er.. I guess she's gotten rather testy since those pirates..." Shi Krem: "This ship is certainly... unique." She pays the turret that had been staring her down no mind as she continues further in. H3-4L B07: "She's just tetchy around new folk." Shi Krem: "This is yours?" She says as she examines the first corridor. Eve: "Standing down. Identify" Alicia G (GM): I think technically Aela is Capain now... Shi Krem: "I see you have a droid brain slaved to the systems of the ship. Eve, I'm guessing?" H3-4L B07 laughs oh no. We all woke up on board after thousands of years of sleep. Then we met some pirates saved Nadia, her remote blew up their ship and we all went to bespin." Aela Viszla: "Eve, this is Shi Krem, a Jedi. She was on the last planet we visited." Shi Krem: "Ah. So this is the ship that you and Aela woke up on, in a similar fashion to me?" H3-4L B07: "Not sure what she is. I searched the ship high and low for her physical location on the ship. Couldn't find nothin'. And yeah pretty much." Aela Viszla nods to Shi. Eve seems insulted as the door in front of Shi closes before she can walk through. "Far more than a droid brain. I am an Artificial Intelligence." Eve: "Identify." H3-4L B07: "She'll need you to give your name if you want to be added to the crew roster." Shi Krem: "Droid brains and artificial intelligences are interchangable- or wait... are you old enough to where there was still a significant destinction?" She seems to be too caught up in her line of questioning to even process that Eve has repeated her command multiple times. Alicia G (GM): well now there's a door in your way.... lol Shi Krem had simply stopped at the closed door to exmaine any sort of panel or access hatch on the wall. Aela Viszla looks at Shi, then the door H3-4L B07: "Well I never. I will not listen to such racist ignorance. I'll be in med bay." "As soon as I remember where that is." Eve opens the door for H3 to pass through Poison: I just spit out my pop at the "Well I never" line and now its on my monitor and in my nose. JT: Mission Complete Nadia: "She's not going to let you explore the ship till you register..." Shi Krem: "Does this mean that this ship is thousands of years old? At least what, 3500 right? You two said you came from the... mandalorian wars, right? That means this ship has to be at least that old, maybe older. Eve must've been a technological wonder, then. If my studies were accurate, droid development didn't really advance significantly until a few hundred years later. Oh! I bet you don't even have a central processor! If this ship was designed to house you from its construction that means they probably integrated your programming into all the various subsystems in the ship, essentially meaning you /are/ the ship, as opposed to more modern designs that typically add in a droid brain, or multiple brains, after the fact!" H3-4L B07: "Well that's even more insulting as a droid from this "Primitive" time." Eve pipes in. "The Venture was commissioned in the year (relative to 22bby) with my personality brought online three years, 2 months and 5 days afterwards." Shi Krem: so the ship is from like the start of the clone wars? Sunny: woops, old habits Alicia G (GM): yup JT: and eve is from like the end Alicia G (GM): right again Shi Krem: "Wait, really? Why does it look like it came out of the backend of a rancor, then?" "No offense!" She adds on quickly. Aela Viszla gasps. H3-4L B07: "Has anyone ever told you your rather rude." Alicia G (GM): how would you know.. you're not there you left this conversation when you went to the med bay Poison: maybe he is listening in via cameras? JT: fair emough Shi Krem: "What? Oh! Sorry. I get a little... excitable when it comes to unique starship designs! My ah... master was an avid pilot." "Oh and the name is Shi Krem!" Aela Viszla: "I think you ought to both identify yourself, and apologize to Eve for any hurt your comments may have caused." Eve: "Processing." Shi gets the awkward feeling she's being scanned. "Shi Krem, Nyriaan. Authorization status, crew. Welcome aboard." JT: was that over intercomm Eve says it just in the room's intercomm JT: damn Nadia sighs and goes off towards the stern JT: Gah it's so obvious how am I the only one to notice please tell me one of you noticed Shi Krem: "Sorry if I ah... said anything untoward. My filter tends to turn off whenever I get into what my master called my 'speculation mode'." Poison: Aela has a wis of 6, even stuff she notices dont always get her attention JT: DAMN DAMN DAMN! Eve: "Apology accepted,Shi Krem." Alicia G (GM): see what happens when you separate yourself from the group? You miss things IC Aela Viszla smiles, happy with the apology. "Well, everything went well. How've you been since we last saw you, Eve?" Aela Viszla: (to be fair, sometimes when he goes off, he gets the schematics, too =) ) Eve: "System functions at 25% and progressing." JT: well I couldn't help but storm off at shi's remarks Poison: lol Shi Krem: "Is the ship undergoing repairs? Upgrades? I'll admit I still have a lot of questions. Oh, where'd Bill go? Wasn't he here a second ago I could've sworn I was talking to him." Eve: "Venture is an advanced prototype in constant need of maintenance. Last completed maintenance was five years ago." "H3-4L B07 is in the medical bay" Aela Viszla: "Well, why dont we do maintenance? Can you print me out schematics, for maintenance, Eve? How many people does it take to get it back in shape in a reasonable time?" Eve: "With full droid team, at current deterioration 13 days." Aela Viszla nods. "How many droids is a full droid team?" Story Teller: At mention of a droid team a run down looking R2 unit comes in chasing what looks like to Shi Krem and old marksman droid. Aela Viszla: "What is going on in here?! You two droids. What are you doing?" H3-4L B07 thinking out loud. "She knows something, I need to find out what." B3-D3 takes shelter behind Aela Shi Krem: "Is this the... droid team?" (To Shi Krem): make a wisdom check Shi Krem: Wisdom 4 Sunny: nice.meme H3-4L B07 walks by lost in thought of whatever they are doing. B3-D3 gives a loud raspberry as the R2 unit prattles on in binary and tries to get around Aela to get at the remote Aela Viszla: (I speak binary, what are they saying?) B3-D3 of course always talks too quickly for anyone but another droid to understand R2-D8: accuses B3 of some offense or another, you can't pick out the details Aela Viszla tells them to knock it off. "How many of you droids are slacking off chasing each other instead of fixing the ship?" Eve: "Only D8 has been completely repaired. Four more from the team are awaiting parts." B3-D3 becomes wary of Aela as she yells at him and flies up out of reach of D8 and goes back down the hall. H3-4L B07 still lost in thought and Shi said she woke up like us so she's part of it too somehow. Nadia was just chasing the force in her. Hmmmm. What am I missing?" Shi Krem: "So there's a 5 droid team of R2 units? That's impressive." Aela Viszla nods, and starts inputting this into the datapad on her armor, so she can get the parts, and repair the droid team. Shi Krem: "It's going to be quite expensive to buy parts to repair 4 astromechs. Luckily that one's working so we don't need to worry about hiring someone to fix the others." Aela Viszla: "What, like I can fix droids? Really?" Poison: *can't JT: I think it works either way in like a super sarcastic tone. Shi Krem: "Can you? Sorry, it seems I've been making a lot of assumptions these last few days." R2-D8 rolls off towards engineering H3-4L B07 looks at the R2 unit roll towards engineering. "How does he navigate the ladder?" Aela Viszla: "Yeah. I can. I did all the work on this armor, and on the guns, as well. I can make the droids better than they were to begin with." R2-D8 turns on his rocket boosters to descend quite easily H3-4L B07: "I should get a flight system." Shi Krem nods in approval. "I'm more adept at destroying them. Guess that comes with fighting an entire army of them." H3-4L B07: "Yes the CIS with their army of drones, worthless scrap if you ask me." Shi Krem shrugs. "Even scrap can be effective when you have multiple quintillions of units." H3-4L B07: "Clearly not seeing as how they failed." Shi Krem: "True, but many clones, and Jedi alike lost their lives in that war. And then to find out in the end it was all rigged from the beginning?" She gives a bitter laugh. "Anyways, what's our next step?" H3-4L B07: "Working on it. Eve accept you into the crew?" Shi Krem nods. "I'm hoping to talk to her more in depth when we have free time, I'm curious about this ship." Aela Viszla comms Nadia, "Did we get paid? We could use some of the proceeds to fix up the droids, so we can get the ship back in shape." Nadia responds in kind. "He left a credit chip back on the Atin.. Not pick it up?" H3-4L B07: "Yes I did, but we 'we're waiting for the rest. H3-4L B07 hands over the money they were already paid having other things on his mind." Aela Viszla checks the credit chip for a total Story Teller: There's 10k on it H3-4L B07 turns to Shi "I'm more interested in EVE to be honest." Shi Krem: "Well that goes without saying. Eve is a /part/ of the ship." Shi Krem gets a devious smile on her face, or would if she had lips, or wasn't wearing a mask. "Sounds like you have a thing for her, Bill." Aela Viszla: (how much for the parts to fix the droids, estimate wise?) H3-4L B07: "Not that... well I guess a little bit that. She is an impressive design. But she knows something about this... experiment that we and you are a part of." Alicia G (GM): we'll say 5.5k to get the parts to repair all of them Shi Krem utilizes every facet of her jedi training to not snrk at Bill's admission of attraction. "So then I take it you all know as little as I, even though you two have obviously been awake far longer than me." H3-4L B07: "Not by much and I tried asking her about it. I didn't have proper clearance. She Aela Viszla asks all aboard if they have any problems with repairing the droids on board with the money, to keep the ship running in top shape. H3-4L B07: "She's playing hard to get." Bill smiles or he would if he had lips. "Go ahead, I'll help once we've got the parts." Shi Krem shrugs, having done exactly nothing to earn any claim on that money. "Can't you just, ah... slice into her systems? Or is that sort of thing taboo?" Aela Viszla: (I assume I can requisition the parts from where we are? Do I need to head off the ship to do it?) H3-4L B07: "NO!.... well maybe but I don't care. I tried after we first awoke when things calmed down. I couldn't find her central processor, so she's either integral to the ship or well hidden." Shi Krem: "I suppose it shall have to remain shrouded in mystery for the time being. The Force has been... clouded, to say the least." Her voice gets more sullen as she says that. Story Teller: Using Ghurn's contacts you can requisition them, but it will take several hours for them to be delivered Aela Viszla requisitions the parts, and starts checking up on where the droids are, and getting them in to where her and the other R2 can do the maintenance on em. H3-4L B07: "Yes but that mystery is eating at me. I assumed she was set up like THES but now I don't know. She all new tech and I'm still working it out." Story Teller: Best place to do the droid repairs would likely be the workshop. The droid team's remains are in a room near the medical bay H3-4L B07 will start moving the droids to the workshop while he ponders things Sunny: so halfway across this questionably laid out ship Aela Viszla is going to take the droids to the workshop and get them setup. Story Teller: When you look at the R2 droids you see that they've been scavenged for parts, likely after they stopped functioning. JT: only because we don't have a full crew for it probably less questionable with people at stations Story Teller: hmm? Shi Krem: "I'll admit... I am at a loss for what to do to pull my weight. I'm afraid I'm terribly used to wartime, even if Jedi aren't really soldiers." Aela Viszla: "Why don't you try and rustle up some of your old contacts?" Nadia meets them in the hallway carrying a satchel slung on her back and having taken off her armor. "I have an errand I need to run. I'll be gone for a couple days.". H3-4L B07: "Well as you may have noticed, we are in dire like of a "people person". I mean Aela and I are just a couple of war veteran mechanics from a bygon era. And I never had... interpersonal protocols installed. I've developed some on my own but their.... sketchy." *lack not like Shi Krem: "Well I- Oh, Nadia. Will you be fine on your own?" Aela Viszla raises an eyebrow at Shi again. Nadia stops and smiles reassuringly. "Oh don't worry about me. I'm just taking someone home and coming right back." H3-4L B07: "She's a Mandalorian. She can handle herself." Shi Krem: "Yes, of course." She takes a half step back. "It just seems you all are on the hit list for at least one major corporation, is all." Nadia: "CSA? They're pretty isolated to Nyriaan." "Besides.. They didn't see my face.. just my armor." she gestures to the fact she's removed it. Giving an off hand salute she heads to the docking ring. H3-4L B07: "Oh it's not the first time and it won't be the last. I wonder if I'm still registered to Czerka research come to thing of it. Or if the hutts remember me for that matter. Or any of the other people I pissed off before I went to sleep?" H3-4L B07: "I don't sleep. I'm a machine remember." H3-4L B07 starts singing Machine by three days grace horribly out of tune Category:Forgotten Ones